BUYING A USED BMW 3 SERIES OR 5 SERIES – MAINTENANCE & COST OF OWNERSHIP

BMW – a well knowned German brand desired by any motorsport enthusiast especially continental car fans. Owning a new BMW is easy with 5 years warranty and unlimited mileage. But the car price itself is very expensive.

So nowadays, a lot of used BMW cars with cheap price below RM100k available at most of used car shop in KL and other places as well and people who love the Ultimate Driving Machine will have a thought of buying the used BMWs.

A lot of questions comes to mind especially on how to maintain the BMW, how much the cost to service, what are the common problems, how to deal with those problems and where are the specialist workshop?

Most common BMW on the road nowadays are the BMW 5 series and 3 series. The previous model includes the BMW 3 series e46 and e90. For those who prefer a bigger car can go with the 5 series e60 or f10. The price range is below RM100k which is affordable.

A lot of people asking me on the maintenance cost. Yes, all continental cars are well known for its very high maintenance cost. But how high is high? My answer, generally if you have around RM5k to RM10k at any time as the backup money for BMW maintenance, then you should not be worry of getting a BMW for your ride.

The service cost will be around RM300 to RM600 depending on the engine capacity and how many liters of engine oil you will need on each 10k km service of fully synthetic engine oil. For example 525i e60 will need around 7 litres of oil. If 1 bottle of 4 liter fully synthetic oil cost RM200, then 2 bottle will be RM400 plus RM50 for the oil filter sums up around RM450 per engine oil service. E90 320i will be cheaper than that of course.

For the wheels and tires, if you are using 17 inch sport rim, cost of a new tire will be around RM300+. 19 inch tires usually fitted on staggered rims and will cost RM500+ for a cheap brand like Achilles and up to RM1000 for a good piece of Pirelli, Michelin, Toyo and Yokohama.

If you want to know more about which specialist workshop @ bengkel kereta best for BMW servicing and repair, you should join the FB group of BMW club or owners in Malaysia. They will recommend the best place to maintain your 3 series or 5 series nearby your house.

Which model of used BMW should you go for? Get the common series like 3 and 5 series as it is easy to maintain and get the spare parts. But which 3 and 5 series should you buy?

For BMW 3 series E90, most of the owners recommend 325i 2.5 inline 6 cylinder petrol NA or 320D 2.0 turbo diesel as they say this car has enough power and reliable compared to 320i that usually have oil leakage problem and underpower.

For BMW 5 series E60, 525i is the commonly used but it has several engine option. Get the 2.5 liter inline 6 cylinder with engine code M54 produced between 2003-2005. N52 lci facelift newer engine has more power but a lot of issues including engine oil consumption and electronic problems.

2.5 engine car roadtax is around RM800 per year, 2.2 cc is RM551, 2.0 is around RM400. The fuel consumption also depends on the engine capacity. The bigger, will cost more liter per 100km.

Below is the list of maintenance cost for BMW E60 as a reference in RM.

– 500 engine oil (7 liter 10w40)

– 1xxx alternator

– 800 gearbox servicing (zf fluid 6 liter)

– 1500 upper & lower arm chg & axle servicing

– 1000 Radiator + thermostat (if leak on floor)

– 400 brake pad set

– 370 water pump M54

– Elect water pump + thermostat total = 1500 for N52 engine

– 680 starter

– 580 Delkor MF DIN 100 Battery

– 300 thermostat

– 200 valve cover gasket

– 1000 brake disk front

– 2500 4 tyres

– 500 Fan belt & tensioner

– 200 spark plug

– 2000 absorber set evry 5 yrs

– 780 set of 6 ign coil

– 150 brake sensor(2)

– 400 wheel Bearing (1)

– 1700 denso compressor or

– 600 compressor ctrl vlv

– 5000+ whole aircond sys

– 3500+ whole GB repair (vlvbody&svc)

– 1000+ battery cable

To summarize this, if you can afford the repair bill as above, with RM10k cash in hand all the time for wear and tear + any ad hoc problem, you absolutely can afford to get this beautiful ultimate driving machine for your ride.